FEBRUARY 1, 1999:THIS WEEK MARKS the premiere of She's All That,
which is significant in being the first teen film with the basic
plot from Pretty In Pink, Can't Buy Me Love, etc., since
the '80s ended. It's an homage to the John Cusak/Molly Ringwald
era, made by people who grew up watching 80s' teen films, and
it has all the charms and flaws of that genre. Basically, it's
a somewhat less-sexist Pygmalion, with Freddie Prinze Jr.
playing Zak, the popular kid who takes a bet to transform the
dorkiest girl in the school into the prom queen. Hijinks, of course,
ensue. We talked with Rachael Leigh Cook, who plays Laney, the
aforementioned dorky girl, and got her opinion on teen films,
skin care, and standing on your head while singing "Yankee
Doodle."

TW: I read that you were originally offered the part
of Zak, and you chose to play the part of Laney instead. Is that
true?

RLC: Yeah, that's it. But the truth is, even with the salary,
I couldn't really swing it for the sex-change operation in time
for the movie. That kind of stood in my way. I think that's what
really kept me from the part.

TW: Do you feel you have a lot in common with the character
of Zak, though?

RLC: Well, um, he uh, has hair, and so do I. He's been
to a soccer game, and so have I. Pretty much no.

TW: So it wasn't really working on that level for you...

RLC: No, not really.

TW: So when you were offered the part of Laney, were
you thinking, "Someone with skin as good as mine ought to
get a better part"?

RLC: Well, no one really has skin like that...that's the
movies. No one looks like that. I've seen a lot of "movie
stars" up close...nobody looks like they do. Anyway, they
really mess me up in the beginning...I've got the glasses, and
the eyebrow, you know, a whole lotta stuff going on. But the DP
was still too kind to me. The director was yelling at him after
he saw dailies. He's like, "We're not supposed to like her
yet...You're hurtin' my film."

TW: You looked good all the way through. They always
do this. They cast an attractive woman as the woman who's ugly
and then becomes pretty....

RLC: They put her in glasses...

TW: Right, so that anyone with glasses is obviously
hideous...

RLC: Oh, yeah, right.

TW: I have to admit...that irks me every time I see
it.

RLC: Yeah, but to tell you the truth, that's not really
part of the movie. It's not supposed to be that she's that unattractive,
it's just supposed to be that she's kind of scary and "inaccessible,"
as they call her. She's staunchly anti-social, she wants no part
of it, she's completely suspecting, she's screaming "conspiracy"
at the slightest word spoken to her. It's more on a personal level
than on a physical level that she's...sort of a challenge.

TW: Do you ever watch any of those '80s teen films like
Say Anything....

RLC: Oh, all the time. And She's All That is a total
'80s movie. I love '80s movies. I mean, everything from Breakfast
Club to Some Kind of Wonderful, Say Anything...I think
those were the best movies ever made.

TW: So if Gus Van Sant was going to do a shot-for-shot
remake of Pretty in Pink, you'd be there?

RLC: I disagree with his whole shot-for-shot thing, but....

TW: I thought that was amazing because no one's ever
done it before, and it's so unlike doing a movie. Because a movie
is about plot and characters, and Van Sant's Psycho was
all about surface effects.

RLC: Yeah, but doesn't that seem ridiculous? I mean, you
and I could do that, with the right crew. It's no problem.

TW: I don't know, it seems like it took a lot of work.

RLC: They did the same thing. They went back in the archives,
got the story boards, got the exact original script. It's...I
have a friend who met with him and said to him, quite honestly,
"Aren't you afraid people are going to say you're lazy?"
And he said, "Well, if you want to know the truth, I am,
and I just got all these Academy Award nominations, and they said,
'What do you want to do next, Gus?' And I said, this is what I
want to do, and they can't say no."

TW: I thought that was interesting, because to me it
was more like a conceptual art piece. It was...

RLC: ...A conceptual art piece of someone else's work.

TW: Exactly, yeah. Just like what Warhol used to do
where he'd take a can of soup and put his name on it. Or like
one of those extremely rule-bound experimental pieces from the
'60s. I understand almost everyone else in the country hated the
Psycho remake, so I guess I'm alone there.

RLC: Well, he'd be glad you're out there.

TW: Do you want to direct?

RLC: No.

TW: Not ever?

RLC: Why? Do you ever want to stand on your head and sing
"Yankee Doodle"? It's like, "Maybe."

TW: So you might want to stand on your head and sing
"Yankee Doodle"?

RLC: Well I've already done that.

TW: Anything else you'd like to say to people in the
37th largest city in the country?

RLC: It's a good movie. Don't take it at face value as
being just some silly movie. It's a movie that you can actually
just go and feel good, and just...it's just a good, solid little
movie. It's worth it.

TW: You think it works on another level than the standard
teen film?

RLC: Well, yeah. In the other teen films, a lot of people
die. Nobody dies in this film. That's reason enough to go see
it.

TW: That's true. For the past 10 years, you can't do
a teen movie without someone killing people.

RLC: ...or cheerleaders, or just people getting decapitated.
So go see this movie because no one dies in it.

TW: 'cause no one dies...I think that's a glowing endorsement.
I'm going to put that down. That is a nice change of pace. And
then the final question, of course: If Leonardo di Caprio offered
you a million dollars...oh, never mind.

RLC: What?! And what does it have to do with him being
Leonardo di Caprio? To (do) what? Eat a worm sandwich? I need
to know the question now!